


It Hurts to Become

by seekrest



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, Marvel said PeterMJ rights!, Michelle Jones Needs a Hug, Mild Language, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has the Venom Symbiote, Peter does not die I promise, Protective Michelle Jones, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, back on my bs, but he goes THROUGH it in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-05-20 13:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19377763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: “Peter, what is going on with you?”Tony sees the look in Peter’s eyes – can recognize the hint of something burrowing behind them. A look of someone who is distracted but is desperately trying to focus.Peter looked exhausted, more than usual. Something’s off with the kid, he’d noticed it but now – watching Peter as it seemingly took all of his attention to focus on Morgan – caused something akin to regret to churn in his stomach.Something was wrong with Peter.





	1. One.

Tony is panicking.

“Tony, I’m going to need you to breathe. Tony. Look at me, Tony.” His eyes are frantic, blinking way too fast as he looks into Rhodey’s.

“Breathe with me, Tony. In. Out. In. Out. Come on, man.” Tony can’t, grasping at the wall behind him, feeling himself sink down to the cold floor.

The kid was dead. He was _dead_. He knew it. Tony knew it.

As Rhodey’s voice continues on in the background, the sound fizzling out like static in the background, Tony feels his eyes start to glaze over.

Peter was dead.

It was all his fault.

* * *

“Peter are you even listening to me?” The kid’s head snaps up, Tony sighing as he recognized the blank look on Peter’s face.

“Sorry, Mr. Stark. I missed that, what’s up?” Tony pinches the bridge of his nose, willing himself to calm down.

“I said – for the hundredth time, I might add – that you need to get your shit together. You’re going to college in the fall, Peter. I’m the last one on earth to pressure you about this, but come on kid, what’s going on?”

Peter fiddled with the tool he was working on, Tony watching as the kid’s leg started tapping up and down.

Peter had been distracted for the past few weeks, seemingly tuning in and out of the conversations and people around him.

May had noticed it. Ned had mentioned it. Even Michelle – Peter’s slightly terrifying girlfriend – had even commented on it during a Sunday dinner.

* * *

“There’s something wrong with Peter.” Tony almost jumped at the sound, whirling around to see Michelle, eyes serious and a stone-faced look on her face.

Tony looked at her up and down, before turning to her. “And you say that because?”

“I’m not an idiot, Stark. I know Peter’s got a lot on his plate with all your Avengers shit or whatever.” Tony watches as she takes in a deep breath, watching in real time as Michelle’s expression cracks just a little.

“But there’s something… something going on with him. I can’t tell what it is.” Her eyes are almost scanning the ground, darting back and forth as she thinks. Tony watches in amazement, if only because it was a look he’d only previously seen on someone else’s face.

His own.

Peter and Michelle had been dating for a little under a year – long enough that Tony knew the extent of how much the kid liked her. Had heard plenty from Peter of how MJ was this, how MJ did that, to the point where he’d eventually offered to have her around for their what was formerly family only dinners.

After only a few days of her joining them, Tony could already tell that Michelle would be around for a very long time.

Despite this, they hadn’t much interaction – hadn’t really had a need to, except for their connection to Peter. He liked her well enough, noticed how the kid seemed to be tethered to wherever she was. Appreciated that despite his best efforts, Michelle was the one who always seemed to make Peter laugh the hardest and longest.

Tony would’ve liked anyone who made Peter as happy as Michelle seemed to.

But a part of Tony also liked Michelle for her complete and utter disregard for anything remotely related to the Avengers, her complete disinterest in anything related to the fame and trappings that came with being a superhero’s significant other – if only for how his role as an Avenger affected Peter personally.

It reminded him a lot of Pepper, if Tony thought about it.

Having Michelle – a woman he implicitly trusted, if only for through their connection to Peter’s well-being – confront him with concern, gave Tony pause.

“Has he said anything?” Tony asks, lowering the octave of his voice as he shoots a quick glance to Peter.

He knows it wouldn’t matter, is convinced Peter could possibly hear all the way up to Harlem if he wanted to, but Tony is gaming on Peter being distracted by Morgan’s antics.

Peter is - riveted as Morgan regales him with some story from school, eyes lit up as her little hands gesture wildly.

Tony would almost smile at the scene, watching Peter and Morgan interact, but as he looks at the two of them – sees the look in Peter’s eyes – Tony can recognize the hint of something burrowing behind them.

A look of someone who is distracted but is desperately trying to focus.

Peter looked _exhausted_ , more than usual. Something’s off with the kid, he’d noticed it but now – watching Peter as it seemingly took all of his attention to focus on Morgan – caused something akin to regret to churn in Tony's stomach.

Tony turns his attention back to Michelle, her face still firm and steady on his.

“No. You know he wouldn’t.” Michelle’s voice matches Tony’s, eyes glancing back to the scene in Tony’s living room. She has to know as well as Tony does that Peter could be listening in regardless.

If the kid does or doesn’t, Tony doesn’t know – just watching as Peter wills all of his attention on Morgan.

“I know you can’t tell me all the secret shit you get into but, is there anything that Peter would be concerned about you know with…” She vaguely gestures to Tony.

“Honestly, the kid’s more involved with it more than I am these days. You know Pep’s got me a on a strict ‘no-fly zone’ these days.” Michelle’s lips quirk but she says nothing, Tony recognizing that she’s letting the lie stand.

Pepper hadn’t convinced him of anything, hadn’t needed to. After Morgan was born, the idea of flying around in a red and gold suit had lost some of its luster.

Especially when Tony knew that the kid – Peter – was more than capable of leading the team, better than he and Steve ever could.

“Do you think it’s too much for him? Being so involved with everything?” Michelle’s question throws him, if only because it seems to be so interrelated to his inner thoughts.

Peter had mentioned that before, how intuitive Michelle seemed to be, how observant. It was a trait Peter admired, but if Tony was honest with himself, it’s part of the reason why he didn’t necessarily distance himself but didn’t actively seek out Michelle’s company.

Tony Stark didn’t like feeling like people could immediately get a read on him. And Michelle Jones seemed to automatically do that without even having to try.

“I don’t know.” Tony scratches the back of his beck, avoiding Michelle’s gaze. “We’ve talked about it some but each time, he just acts like everything’s okay.”

“And you believe him?”

“Well we both know he’s a terrible liar.” Michelle smirks, Tony matching it.

“Yeah, you’re right about that.” She purses her lips, lost in thought once again. Tony takes the opportunity to take her in, recognizing that she and Pepper looked physically nothing alike – Michelle’s curly natural hair a contrast to Pepper’s pin-straight red, brown skin contrasted with Pepper’s pale, dark eyes that were the opposite of her blue.

And yet seeing the twinge of concern on her face, the sense of a million thoughts, ideas, and problems running through behind her thoughtful eyes, made Tony feel once again that Peter was just a little too much like him.

He’d found himself his own Pepper, someone who would seek out the one person she had probably wanted to talk to the least in a crowded room, just for the sake of advocating for the man she loved the most.

Tony didn’t know what was going on with Peter, but he was at least glad in that moment – that he had Michelle on his side.

“I don’t know, Stark. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” Her eyes are firm again, the vulnerability that had slipped through gone as her tone changes.

“But you better help me figure it the hell out.” She turns to walk away, stopping while Tony watches.

“Cause if something happens – if _anything_ happens to him and you didn’t do something to stop it – you’ll have more than May to contend with.” A flash of something almost like fear passes through her face before it changes into a quiet resolve.

“You’ll have me.” A shiver involuntarily flows down his back as she walks away, Tony almost bewildered at the feeling.

He liked Michelle well enough, trusted her implicitly when it came to Peter. But as she walked over to where Peter was, kneeling down beside him as her face transformed into one of delight as Morgan began another story, Tony was amazed once again.

Michelle was barely a legal adult – an actual _infant_ in Tony’s perspective. And yet the look on her face, the chill he’d felt down his spine.

Tony almost felt intimidated by her.

 _Almost_.

* * *

Tony waits as Peter thinks, the kid’s leg still going up and down.

He didn’t think it was a difficult line of questioning – what major are you thinking of? Have you done any shopping? Did you ever decide if you’re moving in with Ned? – and yet to Peter it had seemed to be utterly out of his depth.

Like he was completely unaware that Tony had been talking to him.

He presses the kid again.

“Peter, what is going on with you?”

“Huh?” Peter’s eyes are wide, his leg tapping so steadily that Tony’s sure he could try and decipher some kind of Morse code from it.

“You’ve been distracted for weeks. Something’s going on in that head of yours,” Tony points a tool in Peter’s direction before continuing. “Come on kid, talk to me. What’s going on?”

Peter seems to think for a minute, biting his lip. The shaking of his leg stops slightly.

Tony watches as the kid takes a deep breath, seemingly building up the courage for… something.

Tony feels almost relieved, glad that the kid is opening up to him.

“Mr. Stark, I—”

And then the world goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I be starting something new when I still have to finish [The Road Not Taken](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18971959/chapters/45046546) or when I have more [Peter/MJ ](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1400968) fics to write? 
> 
> No.
> 
> Am I going to anyway?
> 
> ABSOLUTELY.


	2. Two.

Tony is disoriented, coughing up dust. His head is pounding, seeing stars as he tries to open his eyes. 

He blinks a few times, tries to gauge what the hell just happened. 

He’d been in the lab, working on something, Peter was about to—

Peter.

 _Where was he?_  

Tony’s thoughts are immediately focused in on one person and one person only, thanking every deity he could think of that Pepper and Morgan were out for the day, visiting Pepper’s parents. 

He had originally planned on joining them, it was meant to be a family trip. But the conversation with Michelle haunted him, his own observations of Peter causing him to stay home. He had just wanted an extra hour or two with Peter, an excuse really, to try and see if he could help figure out what was going on with the kid. 

They’d been attacked, had to have been. Tony winces as he opens his eyes and takes in the destroyed lab, taking a look around to figure out what happened. 

There’s a light fixture hanging from the ceiling, the lab table they had been working on smashed entirely. Tony tentatively moves his fingers, his toes, begins to slowly move into an upright position. His head is still pounding as he reorients himself. 

There’s something sinister in the air, Tony can almost taste it. His mind races with trying to figure out what it could be. 

Steve had mentioned in passing some Hydra cell down in Toronto, Bruce mentioning some conversation he’d had with the Wakandans about alien activity. 

But as Tony sits himself up, braces himself on the now broken lab table, he wonders not only what the hell had caused all this damage, but what had happened to Peter.

He looks frantically around.

“Peter?” Tony doesn’t hear a response. 

_Where the hell was Peter?_

Before he can yell out for him again, Tony watches as Peter walks into view. 

For a second, Tony is relieved – noticing that whatever had happened, Peter was completely unharmed. But before he could say something, before he could even open his mouth, Tony immediately recognizes that something is… off.

Peter’s hands are clenched tight, almost shaking as he stares at Tony. His posture is off, stuck in an almost crouched and defensive stance. But what shakes Tony – what _scares_ him – is the look on Peter’s face, the darkness in Peter’s eyes.

Peter’s life had been marked with tragedy long before Tony Stark had ever met him. Parents gone, an uncle who had died in his arms. 

Despite this, Peter had been filled with light – a cheery, effervescent presence to anyone who knew him. 

After the Snap, the desolation Tony had felt for those five long years – he could only be thankful that whatever had happened to Peter – wherever they’d gone during those five years – had done nothing to Peter’s indomitable spirit. 

Until a few weeks ago, Peter had seemed much the same as before. 

Kind-hearted, mature beyond his years, no damn sense of self-preservation whatsoever. 

A good kid, almost a man if Tony was honest with himself.  

Seeing Peter – the boy he loved, the one he lost, only to be reunited again – to have a sinister look in his eye, a glare that made Tony’s skin crawl. 

Peter is standing in front of him. 

But it’s also… not Peter. 

“Pete? You okay, kid?” Tony asks anyway, knowing that there’s something else going. _Someone_ else in front of him. 

Tony’s mind is whirring as he thinks – mind control, aliens, drugs – at what could make Peter seem so much unlike himself. 

He watches as the kid goes to open his mouth, before snapping it shut. Almost as if he was wrestling with… something.

“Peter?”

Tony watches in horror as Peter’s face transforms into one of pain, a cry let out that hits at Tony’s core. Peter lets out a shaky breath, his body shuddering – and then it stops. 

Peter stills. But watching as his posture turns straight, Peter’s face transformed into a look that sends another shiver down Tony’s spine, convinces Tony of one thing for sure. 

This is not Peter.

“Who are you?” 

Peter smiles. 

It’s cold, calculating. 

Tony used to dream of seeing Peter smile, used to ache at the idea that he’d never see the kid’s face again. 

Yet this, it’s menacing. Sends chills up Tony’s arms, the pain in his head throbbing.

“Who are you?” Tony asks again. 

Peter tilts his head, the smile turning into a small smirk.

“Tony Stark. We finally meet.”

Tony can feel himself shaking. 

He steadies himself on the broken lab table, almost slipping as he stands upright. Tony gives a quick glance around the lab, cursing at himself. 

There are no suits here, the 30 th  floor of a tower he had only recently bought. His cellphone is somewhere in the lab, discarded as a distraction – his only intention to spend time with Peter. 

Tony’s mind races, thinking of where the team could be. 

Steve and Natasha were abroad, Rhodey in DC. Bruce was probably giving some lecture somewhere. 

They’d scattered after everything – once things had been made right again. They were a team again, united as they always would be. 

But they all had lives to live. Tony was okay with that, was perfectly okay with his role as an advisor. 

He had Pepper. Morgan. Peter. 

But the Peter before him, the ones who eyes seemed to darken with every minute, made Tony feel as if he’d lost him all over again.

“Yeah? Who’s we?” Tony grinds his teeth, furious. 

“I… am Venom.”

“Is that supposed to mean something? Who the hell are you? What did you do with Peter?” 

The snarl in Tony’s voice is unmistakable, fury overtaking him. 

Peter’s smile deepens, the glint of something ominous in his glare. 

“Peter. The boy who would be king. You love this boy, Stark. The cosmos knows of it now.” 

Tony stops, an old fear rearing its head. 

The Snap. Dust. A fiery compound. A fight they’d barely won. 

It’d been over a year since Thanos’ defeat, a year since Tony’s world had been made whole again. Yet the thought of all that he almost lost – had already lost – still caused panic to stir in his gut. 

“I don’t give a fuck about the cosmos. Tell me what you’ve done with Peter.” 

Peter seems to look up, thinking of something. He blinks then looks back to Tony.

“He is here. With me.” A sinister grin. “He fights, has fought for so long.” 

There’s a sinking feeling in Tony’s stomach, connecting the dots. Peter had been distracted for how long? Weeks? Maybe a month?

How long had he been fighting against this… thing? 

“He’ll never stop fighting.” Tony takes a tentative step forward, watching as Peter doesn’t move. 

“No.” Peter responds, the surety in his voice surprising Tony. 

The next words cause Tony’s heart to skip a beat. 

“But we do not have much time.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Peter sucks his teeth, licks his lip. The action is odd on Peter’s face, Tony inching closer. 

When he doesn’t answer, Tony asks again.

“What do you want?”

“I want for nothing, Stark. Need nothing, least of all from you.” Peter’s voice turns into a snarl, threatening and angry.

Tony’s rarely heard the kid yell, can’t even remember a time when he’s raised his voice. He shouldn’t be surprised, knows that Peter – _his_ Peter – isn’t the one speaking to him.

The hurt he feels is still inescapable. But he presses forward. 

“Oh yeah? What’d I do to you, huh? Kill your family? Stop a business deal? Help me out here, Donnie Darko. I’ve done a lot of shit to people.” Tony straightens, his head still pounding. 

“Why the hell are you here and what have you done to Peter?” 

Peter seems to consider this, watches as Tony – moved past the bench now – stares back at him. 

“You have everything, Stark. Your wife. Your daughter.” Peter smiles. “The boy who is all but in name, your son.” 

Tony’s hand shakes, clenching into a fist. 

“I used to have all of this too.” Peter takes a step towards Tony’s left, moving away from the lab’s entrance. Tony mimics the action, in the opposite direction. 

“But then I took it from you? Is that what this is? Revenge?” Tony questions, prodding as Peter and he walk in tandem. 

Peter shakes his head. 

“Even the great and mighty Tony Stark could not have taken my family from me.” He points towards Tony, an almost mournful look on his face. 

“Thanos. The destroyer of worlds. You faced him.” 

Tony’s throat is dry, swallowing down a wave of panic. 

When Tony doesn’t respond, Peter waves his hand and continues. 

“But you were successful. Defeated him.” Peter stops, a hand to the balcony door. The hairs on Tony’s arm stand up. 

“Yeah? And?” Tony takes a step forward, noticing as Peter doesn’t even flinch. 

“Five years, Stark. You waited. Five years as we,” Peter glances around – a look of agony, despair and disgust on his face, “We were left to pick up the scraps. Left to fight for ourselves.” 

Peter opens the balcony door, Tony takes two steps forward. 

“What are you—”

“You could have brought them back sooner, Stark. You could have done it. I know it. You did it.” Peter laughs, but the sound is humorless. He glares once again at Tony. 

“But not until you had your happy ending. Your daughter… Morgan, is it?” 

“If you even touch a hair on her head…” The venom in Tony’s voice is undeniable, taking another step until they’ve almost closed the distance between them.  

“I considered it,” Peter says, not even flinching as Tony inches closer to him, taking a few steps back. “But then, why would I hurt a child? You did not care for my child. For all of our children.” 

Peter’s eyes harden. 

“Except for your own.” 

“What the hell does that have to do with Peter? What have you done with him?” 

“My family came back, when you deigned to return the rest of them back to us. But by then, it was too late. My family did not care for me anymore, seeing what we had done.” The look on his Peter’s face darkens. 

“Who I had become.” 

Peter takes another step back, the balcony door open. Tony would panic if he wasn’t so furious, limping forward. 

“Look your family problems have nothing to do with me. I don’t know what your deal is buddy, but you got the wro—” 

“It has everything to do with you, Stark! Everything!” Peter’s scream shocks Tony, watching as the boy he loved – the boy he had lost – almost radiating with anger towards him. 

“I spent a year searching for you, Stark. Savior of worlds.” Peter’s hands are trembling as he steps back, Tony returning it with a step forward. 

“There is so much I could’ve taken from you. So much I could have done. But then, for you – a man who lost nothing, who has only gained, what would be worse?” Another threatening smile fills Peter’s face. 

“For you to lose, again. To lose the boy for whom you nearly ripped open the cosmos for.” Peter’s lips firmly press together before he continues. 

“His death will hurt you more than anyone else’s ever will.” 

Tony rushes forward without thinking, an unnatural cry bellowing out of his throat. Rage, panic and fury are all he can think of – overriding all his other senses. 

Before his hands even touch Peter, Tony is stricken – placed firmly on his back. The quickness and forcefulness of the motion takes the wind out of him, his head throbbing once again as he sees stars. 

Tony gasps, looks up into Peter’s menacing face – his hand enclosed around Tony’s throat. 

He’d forgotten the kid’s strength, forgotten that while this wasn’t Peter – _this wasn’t his Peter_ – the being within him was inhabiting the strongest person Tony knew. 

Tony can barely breathe, tries to catch a good breath but is prevented from doing so. 

“P—Peter.” Tony wheezes, tries to search out the boy he knew. He stares into Peter’s dark and cold eyes, the growl he hears from Peter’s mouth is otherworldly. 

“I am dying, Stark. There is nothing left for me, nothing you could do to stop it.” Tony can feel Peter’s grip tighten, Tony gasping. 

“But I survived, long enough to find you. To find this boy.” Peter leans in, Tony gagging. 

“Peter fought hard against me. I wanted to make him suffer, to watch you suffer as the sickness in my body destroyed the boy within.” Tony blinks, flailing his arms in a panic. He can’t breathe. 

“But then,” Peter tilts his head, a scowl on his face. “The boy almost told you. The whispers he’d heard. The sense of me in his system.” 

Tony starts to see stars. 

“I would have killed him slower. But he fights too hard, Stark. I cannot let him win.” 

“You… you won’t—” Peter tightens his grip once more, Tony panting. 

“I am dying, Stark. And I am taking your boy with me.” 

Peter lets go of Tony’s throat, the action causing Tony to gasp violently. He chokes, coughing as he tries to sit up. 

He watches in horror as Peter – _it’s not Peter, he’s controlling Peter_ – walks backward, climbs to the edge of the balcony. Peter stands, the wind whipping at him, back to the city as he stares at Tony.

Tony wheezes, the panic swelling in his gut as he struggles to breathe. 

“Peter…” Tony almost whispers, gagging from trying to breathe. 

“Goodbye, Stark.” Peter closes his eyes. 

“NO!” Tony’s voice cracks, frantically reaching a hand out.

All Tony can do is watch in horror as Peter puts his arms out, leans his head back.

And falls out of sight.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love it when people yell me at in the comments!!
> 
> (Except for FFH spoilers! Haven’t seen it yet so please??? Refrain?? Thanks!)
> 
> Come hang out with me on [tumblr](http://seek-rest.tumblr.com)!


	3. Three.

Tony frantically tries to grab at him but never makes the balcony’s edge. He curses himself for not having a suit, for his cell phone being God knows where.

He didn’t want to be distracted by anything but Peter.

The Peter who was being controlled by something, had been controlled for weeks.

The Peter who was falling to his death.

Tony is panicking, scrambling to the edge. Willing himself not to look but knowing he has to. 

He’s thrown back by a rush of air, a pair of wings. Tony’s never been more thankful to see Sam Wilson.

Until he sees what Sam is carrying – who Sam has. 

Peter. Convulsing.

“What happened, man?” Tony dismisses the question, hands and body scrambling to where Sam had landed. 

Sam lays Peter down, Peter’s eyes rolling to the back of his head, his mouth foaming. 

“I came as soon as I got the alert. Code red? What’s going on, Tony?” Tony doesn’t even register what Sam is saying, his mind completely focused on the convulsing body in front of him. 

Peter hadn’t died. He fell, but he wasn’t dead.

But if Tony didn’t do something, the monster within him was going to finish him off. 

“Go get help. There’s--there’s a med team somewhere in this damn building.”

“Tony--”

“GO!” Tony yells, Sam stopping for a half-second before he rushes off. Tony’s attention returns back to Peter, who’s gone unnaturally still.

“No. No no no no no no, come on kid.” 

For a second, Tony thinks all is lost. And then Peter opens his eyes. 

The joy Tony feels is immediately extinguished when he sees the look in them. 

Peter is awake.

But it is not Peter.

Tony leaps back, watching as Peter flips himself backward - crouched in a defensive pose. His hand is outstretched behind him, Peter’s face hard and focused on Tony. 

“Stark.”

“Peter, I know you’re in there. I know you’re fighting kid, come on.”

Peter snarls then stops, seemingly surprised at the lack of movement. He glances down to his limbs, Tony recognizes it a beat before the thing controlling Peter does. 

“That’s it, Pete. You’re in there. I knew it, come on kid. Fight this asshole.” 

Peter’s jaw twitches, his body shakes for a second while Tony scrambles to think.

He didn’t have a suit anywhere in this Tower, didn’t have one for miles. The last of his suits are still in the garage of his cabin, almost 200 miles out of the city. 

But if he can get to his cellphone, somehow find it in the wreckage that was the lab - he could call it up, get it back in time to somehow stop Peter from hurting himself. 

Tony takes advantage of Peter’s hesitation and runs. 

He sprints, knowing the few seconds he has as an advantage are only given from the struggle Peter and Venom are having within. 

“MOVE.” Peter yells, hands shaking in front of him. It aches at Tony to hear the pain in Peter’s voice, to know that Peter is struggling so hard against this… monster. 

But if Tony has any chance of saving Peter, he has to find his phone.

Tony’s in the lab in the next second, eyes frantically dancing around. And then it hits him.

_God, I’m an idiot._

“FRIDAY, you still with me?”

“Yes boss.”

“Send the suit I was working on last month. And alert the team. Anyone on this side of the continent.” 

“Got it boss.”

Tony whirls around to the balcony, instantly regretting leaving Peter alone out there. 

Peter could be gone. The thing inside of him could’ve won that fight.

Tony grabs some wreckage, a broken pipe of something off the floor and walks back out into the balcony.

The relief is overwhelming, seeing Peter still stuck - frozen in place. But then he turns, and Tony feels the fear once more.

“I should let this boy crumble from the inside out. I tried, the disease within me is so hard to manage, Stark.” 

Tony’s grip on the pipe tightens, Peter glancing it and then laughing.

“What will you do, Stark? Hit me? You won’t. You won’t risk hurting this boy.”

“Peter can take a hit. You on the other hand, I’m happy to send back to wherever the hell you came from.” 

Peter seems to consider this, hands still shaking. For a moment, Tony thinks that maybe he’s getting through to him - that the monster is falling for his stalling tactic. 

What comes next horrifies Tony even more. Peter’s voice completely changes, his posture and tone altered.

Peter suddenly looks _terrified._

“Mr. Stark, please - I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m sorry, I’m sorry I hit you.” 

“Kid?” Tony drops the pipe, goes to comfort him before pausing. 

The kid in front of him - Peter, shaking but a fire building behind his eyes - seems more like Peter than he’s been at weeks.

But Tony Stark isn’t a fool. 

“Kid, if you’re in there - if you’re really talking to me right now - I need you to listen and listen good. Don’t let this asshole win, alright? You’re a fighter, Parker. So fight. Help’s on the way, alright kid?”

Peter’s head bobs up and down, hands shaking as his stance changes. A sharp pain seems to run through him, his head thrown back as Tony winces. 

“Kid? Talk to me, what’s going on?”

“He’s… fighting… me.” Peter blinks a few times, a pained gasp as he searches Tony’s eyes.

“He’s dangerous, Mr. Stark. You-- you have to stop him. Whatever it takes.” 

The desperation in Peter’s voice breaks Tony, head shaking. 

“No, no, kid. Listen to me, we’re going to fix this. Don’t talk like that, Pete alright?”

“Mr. Stark, I--”

“We’re going to fix this, Pete. I’m not hearing this. He’s not going to win alright?” Tony’s pleading now, aching for Peter to understand. 

He’d lost him. Five years - gone, aching without him. 

Tony’s life was full of hope, the joy of the life he had now with Pepper and Morgan were irreplaceable. 

But Peter - with all his joy, sass, and ever-present optimism - had been the sole dark part of his heart, the loss of him something that Tony hadn’t ever recovered from. 

Taking in the pained expression on Peter’s face, Tony inexplicably thinks of Michelle - her guarded and worried plea. 

He couldn’t allow Peter to die without getting the chance to live a life with Michelle, to have even the smallest slice of happiness that he’d been given with Pepper.

Tony had lost Peter for five long years. 

He’d be damned if he lost him again. 

“Mr. Stark, he’s… he’s in so much pain.” Peter’s hands haven’t stopped shaking, bringing them over his eyes, his face. 

“I don’t give a damn about him, Pete.”

“He just--I just want it to stop.” Peter’s hands fall, eyes glistening with tears. “Please, just make it stop. Make it stop.” A sob slips out, Tony goes to reach out but Peter takes a step back.

“No.” Peter’s voice is firm, his back to the balcony’s edge - sending a chill down Tony’s spine.

“Peter.”

“It’s still me, Mr. Stark but don’t-- don’t come any closer. I, I knocked you out. Before. I tried to call for help, I don’t know--I don’t know if it worked.” Peter’s eyes dart across the floor, Tony recognizing that whatever semblance of control the kid was slipping away fast. 

“It’s not you, kid. This… thing, he’s controlling you alright? But you can fight this. Come on Spider-Man. Fight this.” Peter’s eyes snap up to Tony’s. 

“Fight. Him.” Peter’s jaw sets, a quick nod. But before Peter can say anything else, he cries out again, head thrown back and back straightening. 

Whatever this thing was doing to him, whatever the hell Venom had - it was hurting Peter. Breaking him. _Agonzing._

“Kid.” 

Peter looks up - a distant, faraway look in his eyes. Tony panics, knowing all too well what that look signifies. 

“Peter, don’t--”

“I won’t let him hurt you, Mr. Stark.” Peter takes a step back.

Tony’s heart starts racing. 

“He won’t. You won’t. Come on, kid. Don’t do this to me. My heart can’t take seeing you dive off that balcony again.” 

Peter almost smiles, an exhausted look on his face. Part of Tony breaks at the thought, the remembrance of how long Peter has been fighting this thing off. 

“You said it yourself, Mr. Stark. I can take a hit.” Peter nods one more time, another step back.

“Kid--”

“It’s been awful, Mr. Stark. He… he never stops.” Peter is rambling now, the strain settling in. Tony can see the tension building. 

“For weeks, he’s been whispering - telling me hurt you. To hurt MJ.” Peter’s voice breaks, a twisted look on his face before he glances up - tears in his eyes.

“I can’t--I _won’t_ let him hurt you.” 

“You won’t, kid. You can fight this, you can--” Tony’s interrupted by Sam’s reappearance. 

“Tony, I got--”

And that’s when it all goes to shit. 

Peter’s distracted for a moment - just for a second, to look over to where Sam had rushed back out to the balcony - but it’s all Venom needs. 

Before Tony can even blink, Peter’s lunged for him - arms wrapped around his neck. Tony chokes, Sam immediately pulling out his gun. 

“Don’t--” Tony wheezes, putting a hand out. 

“Peter?” Sam questions, gun pointed at the two of them. 

“Sorry. Peter isn’t here right now.” His grip on Tony’s neck tightens. 

“Tony, what’s going on?” Tony tries to shake his head, eyes bulging as he scrambles for oxygen. Even as the pressure of Peter’s chokehold threatens him, all his thoughts are centered around Peter..

_Come on, Peter fight this. Fight this Peter._

“You know what you have to do, Wilson.” The snarl is back in Peter’s voice, Sam’s face turning from bewilderment into fury.

“Who the hell are you? What’s going on?” 

Peter laughs, the sound dark and disturbing even to Tony’s ears. He struggles against Peter’s grip but he’s too strong. 

“What’s wrong, Captain? You don’t recognize your old buddy, Spider-Man?” 

Sam glances at Tony then back to Peter, gun still aimed at the two of them. 

“I don’t know who the hell you are right now, but you’re for damn sure not Peter Parker.” 

Peter just hums in response, taking a step backwards with Tony in tow. 

Tony’s still struggling to breathe, eyes searching the sky.

 _Where’s the suit? Come on Fri, where’s the suit?_  

But there’s no suit to be found. 

“It’s such a shame,” Peter says - taking another step backwards “All I had wanted was to kill the boy. To make Stark feel the agony of what it would be like to lose a child.” 

Peter’s voice hardens, his chokehold on Tony making him gasp. 

“And yet now, with his life in my hands, I can’t help but think that this is worse.” Peter puts a mouth towards Tony’s ears, his legs struggling to lift himself up - searching for air. 

“Let’s see who your friend will choose.” 

“You got something to say to me?” Sam yells out, hands still firmly in position. Peter’s head tilts back up. 

“Yes. Shoot me.”

Sam’s eyes widen, looking into Tony’s - a panic welling up even as he struggles to breathe. 

“What?” 

“Shoot me. Or Stark dies.” 

Sam’s frozen, his eyes darting between Peter and Tony. 

Even with the lack of oxygen, the darkness circling around his vision, all Tony can think of is the panic forming on Sam’s face - the terror taking hold of Tony. 

“Don’t--” Tony wheezes but the sound is choked, Peter’s grasp tightening once more.

“Stop!”

“You heard me, Wilson. Shoot. Or Stark dies.” 

It’s an agonizing couple of seconds, Tony wishing with all that was within him that his brain was working faster - that he had enough oxygen to communicate to Sam. 

Tony couldn’t leave Pepper, couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Morgan behind.

But he’d be damned if he allowed the world to lose Peter Parker once more. 

When Sam doesn’t answer, Peter takes another step back towards the balcony’s edge, Sam moving slightly forward.

“Don’t move!”

“I’m giving you a choice, Wilson. Me. Or Stark.” Tony doesn’t have to see Peter’s face to hear the twisted smile forming. 

“Or we jump. And you lose us both.” 

A moment of silence. Then Sam speaks up. 

“How about neither and you just let Tony go alright?” Sam looks to Tony, Tony blinking to keep his vision clear. 

“Where’s the kid? This isn’t him, right? This is a Skrull gone rogue or something?” 

Tony panics, tries to shake his head but Peter stops him. 

“Oh it’s me. Or is it?” Peter takes another step back, Sam shouting.

“Don’t move any further!”

“Do you really want to take that chance?” 

Tony begins to feel light-headed. He was about to lose consciousness, he could feel it - but he couldn’t afford it. 

He had to tell Sam that this was Peter. 

_Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. Don’t let him die._

“Come on Wilson. Do it. Shoot me. Or Stark dies.”

Tony thinks he tries to say something, but he’s not sure. He’s been without oxygen for too long. He sends a bleary, panicked glance to Sam - arms poised, even if his face holds a look that’s conflicted. 

“Do it. Wilson.”

“Tony…”

Tony can’t breathe. He can barely see, can’t even focus. 

“Me. Or Stark.”

“Come on, Tony talk to me man. Don’t close your eyes. Is this Peter?”

Tony can hear the panic in Sam’s voice but he can’t breathe. _He can’t breathe._

“Do it. Shoot me.”

“Tony!”

“Shoot me. Shoot me. SHOOT ME.” Peter takes another step back, makes a move to send them off the balcony. 

The shot rings out. 

It’s silent, except for a sharp ringing noise in Tony’s ear. The oxygen comes in like a burst, Tony gasping with the sudden influx of air as he drops down to his knees. 

He wheezes, gulping it down. The ringing starts to fade, the sudden silence replaced by a sinking horror.

Because the next sound Tony hears is the sickening thud of Peter’s body on the balcony floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this instead of a new chapter of [The Road Not Taken ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18971959/chapters/45046546)like I planned so you’re welcome!!??? 
> 
> Also started a post-FFH fic if you’re interested called [Out of Darkness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19700284/chapters/46621108).
> 
> I love it when people yell at me in the comments!


	4. Four.

When people die, they say that your life passes before your eyes. 

Tony Stark - a man who had faced death time and time again - was well-acquainted with this particular cliche. 

He thought it was bullshit, the idea of watching an entire life passing over your eyes. 

From his own near-death experiences, the only memories that passed by had little to do with his long and destruction filled life. 

In the moments right before death, right before he reached his end - all Tony Stark’s eyes had seen were the people he loved most.

When he flew into the space - the first time - Tony’s thoughts had revolved around Pepper. Her smile. Her laugh. The way her eyes would dance around his face, seeking a way to fix wherever he’d been hurt. 

He thought of Rhodey, the best friend he didn’t deserve. The man who’d carried him - literally and figuratively - through so much shit, Tony would spend a lifetime trying to make up for it. 

Happy. Steve. The ragtag band of idiots he’d left behind. 

Tony hadn’t seen his life. 

Just the people he loved. 

The second time - on a spaceship following a wizard he hadn’t even liked, sailing off into the dark unknown - it had been Pepper once more. The dream of a child, the pain of a separation. 

The kid he’d sent back home safely. 

The snap that had almost ended him, when Peter literally faded from his frantic grasp - Tony thought not just of Peter - the ache, the agony already encroaching upon him of a life without him - but of the life the kid would never get to live. The love he’d never get to have. 

Peter had crumbled away into nothing, and with it he’d taken all of Tony’s dreams. 

The final snap, when Tony had held a gauntlet that had almost ended him, his thoughts had been too tormented, too focused on the cosmos and the galaxies that swirled around before his eyes. 

It wasn’t until the recovery, the first few moments when he was still waking up in a hospital room, that Tony’s thoughts had settled back on the people he loved. 

There were too many to name, too many faces within his grasp. 

And yet those faces, the memory of them - made him hold on. 

Now - frozen and staring in horror as blood poured out of Peter Parker - Tony’s life didn’t flash before his eyes. 

It crumbled. 

* * *

“Peter! Peter? No, no, no, no, come on, kid.” Tony is still grappling for oxygen, the choke hold from Peter’s grip still closing his airway. 

“Tony, I--” 

“Sam get the medical team. Where the hell are they?” 

“There’s--there’s no one here, Tony. I tried calling, I couldn’t leave you out here. I didn’t know, I just--” Sam’s voice shakes, the realization of what he’d done sinking in. 

Tony would not be shaking over the body of a Skrull. Would not be tortured over a fake. 

Sam Wilson was a soldier, had taken on the mantle of Captain America. Steve off in Europe somewhere, seeking out Hydra cells with Natasha. 

Yet Tony - whose thoughts and mind and entire being can only focus on the bleeding teenager in front of him - his still taken aback at how shaken Sam appears to be. 

“Find someone. Anyone.” Tony turns his head to Sam, pleading. 

“Tony, I’m--”

“It doesn’t matter. Go. Find someone.” Tony inhales, tries to stable himself.

“ _Please_.” 

Sam stops for a moment. And then he’s gone. 

* * *

Tony’s attention turns back to Peter, hands trembling at the sight. 

There’s blood, blood everywhere. It seeps across the balcony floor, trickles out of Peter’s chest - out of his mouth. 

For a second Tony is frozen at the sight, and then his wits come about him. 

The thing that was within Peter, it was dying. Venom or whatever the hell he was, was dying. 

But Tony could only hope that he could save Peter. 

Peter’s gasps are wet, Tony watching in horror as the blood leaks out of his mouth. He presses his hands to the wound, Peter flinching as he does so.

“I… I win, Stark.” Peter gasps, Tony frozen as he takes in the expression on his increasingly pale face. 

This is Venom talking to him, Venom is dying. But all Tony can see is Peter. 

Peter seems to gasp a little harder, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Tony panics.

“No, no, no, no.” But then just when Peter’s breath pauses, a wheeze that makes Tony feel as if he’s on the edge of losing everything once more.  

It switches. 

It happens in real-time, the change so clear that Tony can see when the darkness fades in Peter’s eyes and is transformed back into the eyes of the boy - the son - Tony upended the cosmos for.

As Peter - _this is Peter_ \- wheezes, Tony’s heart skips a beat. 

Venom - whoever the hell he was - was dead.

But if Tony didn’t act quickly, Peter - _his Peter_ \- would soon join him.

“Mis’r Stark.” Peter lets out a choked cry, Tony feeling the tears forming in his eyes as he presses down on the wound further. 

“I’m here, I’m here kid.” Tony wishes he could run a hand through Peter’s hair, could comfort him. But the blood from the wound is still escaping his grasp, making Tony thinks that if he didn’t act soon - it wouldn’t be just blood that slipped away from him. 

“Don’t talk, kid. Save your strength, alright?” Tony hears the familiar whine and whirring before sees it, thanking FRIDAY that his suit had finally fucking arrived. 

When it lands, he looks up and realizes it isn’t his suit. 

The heavy and dark suit lands, the faceplate turning up.

_Rhodey._

“Tony, what the hell--” Rhodey’s eyes glance down to Peter, before he rushes forward. 

“What happened?”

“I...I…” Tony can’t even put it into words, distracted as Peter starts to cough.

“Hey, hey, hey kid. It’s okay. We’re here, alright?” Tony feels like he might break, the hardness of Rhodey’s tone switched to a soft and even calm. 

It’s the same tone he takes with Tony, in the midst of a panic attack.

But what shakes Tony - what devastates him - is the look in Rhodey’s eyes.

It’s the same look he had once given to Tony, a year ago on a battlefield when all hope had been lost. 

Tony forces himself to look away, to look at Peter - whose dazed and slightly unfocused gaze is on him. 

“M’sr St--” Peter coughs again, eyes closed as the blood pours out. Tony shakes his head.

“Kid, what’d we just say? Don’t talk. Come on, listen to me for once in your damn life.” 

Peter blearily blinks his eyes, Tony unsure if what he was saying even registered with him. 

Peter opens his mouth to speak and Tony - who has seen death, experienced the closeness of it, knows the intimate and quiet moments of what happens right before your end - is broken at what comes next.

Tony had never seen his life pass before his eyes before death. 

He’d only seen the people he’d loved. 

And now, hearing what came from Peter’s mouth - his heart ached that this was exactly what Peter was experiencing. 

“MJ…” Peter wheezes, eyes trying to focus. 

“Come on, Pete. Don’t make your scary girlfriend come and harass me.” It’s a terrible joke, one that Tony immediately regrets as Rhodey kneels down. 

But he can’t focus on the alternative, the idea that Peter - the boy he loved, the one he lost - focusing on the people he loved before he died. 

Tony couldn’t let that happen. 

Peter’s eyes focus on Tony once more, a silent plea. Tony breaks at knowing the words he’s saying, even as his mouth doesn’t move. 

_Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m sorry._

The glass doors of the balcony whoosh open, a part of Tony registers that help is on the way. 

But the rest of Tony’s world is shattering, lazerly focused on the next gasp that comes out of Peter’s mouth. 

For one second, it’s as if time is frozen. 

The rush of people behind him, the soft wind blowing across the balcony, the soft and steady presence of Rhodey beside him. 

None of it matters. All Tony can see is Peter. 

Peter bleeding in front of him. 

The light behind his eyes fading. 

Peter stops breathing. 

And Tony feels flung into the darkness once more. 

* * *

In an instant, Tony’s world is changed. 

One moment, he’s still pressing firmly on Peter’s chest - brain refusing to register the horror of what’s in front of him. 

The next, Peter is gone - whisked away in a flurry of activity, sterile hands, and professional attention. 

Tony feels himself being lifted off the balcony, can recognize the whirring of Rhodey’s suit leading him back inside. 

His mind short-circuits, taking in the destroyed lab.

And then it seems to hit him all at once. 

* * *

Tony is panicking. 

“Tony, I’m going to need you to breathe. Tony. Look at me, Tony.” His eyes are frantic, blinking way too fast as he looks into Rhodey’s. 

“Breathe with me, Tony. In. Out. In. Out. Come on, man.” Tony can’t, grasping at the wall behind him, feeling himself sink down to the cold floor. 

The kid was dead. He was _dead_. He knew it. Tony knew it. 

As Rhodey’s voice continues on in the background, the sound fizzling out like static in the background, Tony feels his eyes start to glaze over.

Peter was dead. 

It was all his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally five chapters but if I kept going with this one, it would've been.... entirely too long for what I have planned. So this chapter happened and now it's six. 
> 
> I tagged this as a hurt/comfort fic and I promise you that's what it is! Just a tiny hint of angst left but don't worry my dudes, the comfort is coming soon <3
> 
> I love it when people yell at me in the comments! It helps to know I'm not shouting into the void. 
> 
> Feel free to come hang out with me on [tumblr](http://seek-rest.tumblr.com).


	5. Five.

Tony is lost. 

The waves of grief are relentless - pouring over and hammering into him. It’s visceral and strong, as if he was falling off that cliff in Malibu with everything he owned sinking him down into the water. 

He’s nascently aware that Rhodey hasn’t left his side, is frantically trying to get him to calm down. 

But Tony can’t see or hear anything. Can’t focus on anything but the image of Peter - _it was Peter, his Peter_ \- as he stopped breathing, blood still running over his fingers and seeping across the balcony floor. 

Tony had loved him. Tony had lost him. 

He feels a prick in his side, a cool hand on his arm. 

As darkness closes around him, all Tony can think is that twice in one lifetime - two times too many - Tony had held Peter as died. 

* * *

 

Tony wakes with a start, eyes frantic. A familiar hand rests on his, Tony turning to see the face he’d seen so often in his dreams.

“Pep?”

“I’m here, Tony.” Her eyes are full of concern, mouth set in a small smile. The relief on her expression is undeniable, though Tony wonders how much of it has to do with him.

“Morgan?” 

“Happy’s got her. Don’t worry, she’s safe.” She smiles further, threading a hand through his hair. 

“We’re safe.” 

Tony almost relaxes, letting out a shaky breath before he remembers. 

A shot that rang out.

The thud of Peter’s body.

Peter’s eyes glazing over. 

His heartbeat on the monitor beside him starts to spike, his eyes frantically searching Pepper’s.

“Peter?” 

Her expression changes into one that’s almost unreadable, a feat in and of itself. 

Tony and Pepper had been through hell and back. Had faced insurmountable loss, faced the end of infinity and the joy of new life. 

The idea that Tony can’t place the expression on her face terrifies him. 

“Peter--”

“He’s dead, Pep.” Tony’s voice cracks, a tear escaping out of the corner of his eye. He turns to the ceiling, letting the grief wash over him. 

“He’s dead. It’s my fault, my fault, I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop--”

“He’s alive, Tony.” Tony’s frozen, eyes turning back to Pepper’s. She takes a deep breath, resting her hand on his forehead. 

“ _He’s alive._ ” 

Tony blinks, the words coming out of Pepper’s mouth not registering with him. 

“But I saw-- I, I saw him die. He stopped breathing, Pepper.” 

She shakes her head. “His body was going into shock, he lost a lot of blood.” She adjusts her position in the chair, leans forward so that she’s almost hovering over Tony. He searches her eyes once more.

“He’s alive, Tony. He’s… he’s not in good shape.” Tony chokes, but Pepper’s hand presses on his forehead, willing him to listen to her. 

“But he’s alive. Peter’s alive.” 

* * *

 

Venom was dead. 

Whatever the alien had been, wherever the hell it’d come from -- it was gone. 

But even in death, it seemed hellbent on destroying Peter Parker - and Tony’s world along with it. 

The loss of blood from the gunshot wound, Cho explained, hadn’t helped but it seemed as if the sickness that had inhabited Venom hadn’t died with him. 

“What the hell is it, Cho?” Tony had insisted on being present, much to the aggravation of Pepper, Rhodey and their entire medical staff. 

The room was silent, only for the frazzled and tired sigh from Cho. 

“I don’t know, Tony. It’s… not from this world. I’d wager not even from this universe.”

“What can we do? Is the kid gonna be okay?” Rhodey asks, crossing his arms as he walks beside Tony’s wheelchair.

The wheelchair was an annoyance, Tony wanted to pace - to think - but Pepper had been insistent. 

He’d suffered a concussion from Peter knocking him out, had been without oxygen twice from the chokehold Peter had kept him in, and then had devolved into a panic attack that he had to be sedated from.

As much as it pained him to sit still, he wouldn’t begrudge Pepper her request. 

“I’m not sure, James. There’s so much we don’t know about what’s going on. The loss of blood combined with the stress Peter’s body has been under…” Cho puts a hand to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose as she exhales. 

The room is silent for a minute. Then Sam speaks up. 

“I almost killed him. I thought… I couldn't ...” Sam’s voice is wobbling, taking in a shortened breath. James put a hand to his shoulder, Tony looking up. 

He didn’t blame Sam. He couldn’t. 

Hate was corrosive. Tony didn’t hold on to hate anymore. 

“You didn’t know, Sam. You couldn’t have known.” Rhodey is soothing, placating but Sam just shakes his head.

“I should’ve known. How the hell would I get an alert otherwise? The kid…” His gaze finds Tony’s, pleading. 

“Peter sent out an alarm, he was trying to stop whatever was happening to him. I’m sorry, Tony. I should’ve figured it out quicker.” Tony puts a hand up, shaking his head.

“Rhodey’s right, Sam. You can’t blame yourself. Peter--” Tony falters, Pepper’s grip on his shoulder tightened. 

“He’s a smart kid. He wanted… he just wanted to stop this thing.” Tony turns back to Cho, a faraway look in her eyes. 

“And it’s gone right?” Cho nods.

“Whatever this Venom thing was, it’s out of his system. The only traces of it seem to be the unknown entity that it’d previously been sick with.” She turns to the glass window, Tony following her attention. 

Because there was Peter - hooked up to more monitors and machines than Tony had ever seen him before. 

The steady rise and fall of the ventilator was the only thing keeping Tony sane - Pepper’s grip still firm on his shoulder, willing himself not to panic. 

Peter was breathing. _Peter was alive._ But Tony can’t escape the fear that it wouldn’t be enough. 

He’s broken out of his thoughts with the rush of a pair of feet through the door, May Parker rushing into the room. All eyes turn to her as she looks, frantic.

“What happened?” 

“May…”

“Is he, oh God… Peter.” She puts a hand to her mouth, walks closer to the window. May turns to Cho, to Tony.

“What happened?” She whispers. 

“We’re not sure, May. It seems as if Peter had been inhabited by an unknown alien entity for the past few weeks.” Cho nods to Tony. 

“From what we’ve gathered from the footage, the entity seemed to have a vendetta against Tony and wished to lash out.” 

May turns to face him, Tony watching as a multitude of expressions run across her face. 

Anger. Fury. Pity. Empathy.

May seems to decide on the latter, taking a deep breath before turning back to Cho. 

“On the phone, Happy said he got shot?”

Sam steps up. “That was my fault, May. I didn’t… I thought that something--” 

“Sam wasn’t aware that Peter was being possessed, May. He was just trying to control the situation.” May just blinks, hand up as if trying to focus on the situation. 

“Just tell me he’s going to be okay. When will he wake up?” 

Cho bites her lip, the silence telling. 

“He _is_ going to be okay, right?” She whirls around to Tony, Pepper.

“Right?” 

Tony has nothing to offer her. 

He didn’t know either. 

* * *

 

Time passes in the medbay, hours Tony would think but he’s not sure. 

May’s questions couldn’t be answered, Cho taking her into another room to discuss as everyone else had dispersed. 

Rhodey had taken Sam aside, they’d left the building - Tony knowing Sam’s guilt was likely suffocating him. 

Pepper had gone to Morgan, had brought her to him. 

“Daddy!” 

“Hi Morgoona.” He held her tightly in his arms, inhaled the scent of her strawberry shampoo and the faint hint of Cheerios. 

“Mommy says Petey’s sick.” Tony just presses a kiss to her forehead, one hand cradling her in his arms, another pushing her hair back. 

“Petey’s not doing so well, kiddo.” Tony doesn’t mean to scare her, just wants to prepare her. 

The bullet had nearly ended Peter but they’d manage to stop the bleeding. Now, the sickness was still slinking it’s way through Peter’s system, though he seemed to be fighting it as best he could. 

Cho had put him into a medically induced coma, hoping on some level that his healing would take care of most of it. She seemed to be at a loss for whatever disease Venom had been given, but with Bruce’s arrival - rushing to the Tower from a lecture at NYU - they’d disappeared into some lab somewhere, searching for something that could help Peter’s process. 

Tony was optimistic. But he couldn’t lie to Morgan. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Morgan’s voice is quiet, perceptive, more than any six-year old had any right to be. Tony shouldn’t be surprised, but he still is. 

“I… I don’t know, sweetie. We’re going to do all we can to fix him right up alright?” Tony says the words he knows his daughter needs to hear, almost wills himself to believe them himself. 

Morgan seems to consider this. Then rushes forward, hugging Tony tightly once more. 

Holding Morgan calms something within Tony, hand softly twirling through her long dark hair. He sees Pepper out of the corner of his eye, a worried but tired smile on her face. 

Morgan had saved him. Had saved the both of them. 

But as he holds his daughter in his arms, all Tony can wonder if it would be enough to save the hole in his heart if Peter left him once more. 

* * *

 

More hours pass, Tony only recognizing the time from the change in medical staff. 

He hears the doors open, listens as the hurried footsteps rush up to him. 

He turns thinking it’s May, only to be greeted by Michelle Jones - an indescribable expression on her face.  

He stands up to greet her, but is immediately thrown off from the hard and sudden slap across his face. 

Tony puts a hand to his face, watching as Michelle’s turns into one split between agony and rage. 

“You said you’d figure it out, Stark. What the hell happened? What the hell happened to him?” 

Michelle is furious, her whole body shaking as Tony takes her in. 

Her hair is everywhere, falling into her face. Tony remembering how Peter mentioned that he loved her natural curly hair. Her whole stance is defensive, aimed and ready to pounce on Tony. But her eyes - the look of them - is what makes Tony ache. 

Michelle isn’t just angry.

 _She’s terrified._  

“Some asshole was possessing him, we got it out of him.” 

“By shooting him?” Michelle’s nostrils flare, Tony thinking she might strike him again. He winces.

“Not the method I would’ve chosen. But he’s alive.” 

Michelle gives a curt nod, face turning away. A beat. 

“How long?”

Tony tilts his head, mind whirring before she clarifies.

“How long was he possessed with that… thing?”

Tony sighs, runs a hand through his hair.

“Couple of weeks? Maybe a month.” Michelle just nods, his words seemingly confirming something for her she’d already known. 

“So what now? When are you waking him up?” 

Tony’s silence fills the space between them, the horror of it settling on Michelle. 

“You’re going to wake him up, right?” 

“Michelle, we don’t know--”

“I don’t give a fuck about what you know, Stark.” Tony sees the tears building in her eyes, the cracked expression on her face.

“You wake him up. You wake him up, Stark you hear me?” 

A sob escapes out of her, Tony stricken. 

A minute ago she seemed as if she was going to hit him, but now Michelle just seems to crumble into his arms. 

He holds her without hesitation, feeling her grief as if it was his own. 

“I can’t lose him, Stark. I can’t.” 

Tony just closes his eyes, holding her tight as he blinks back his own tears. 

Tony couldn’t lose Peter once again. 

But all he can think of in that moment - holding Michelle as the sobs overtake her - is that he was not the only one who couldn’t bear the thought of a world without him.

May in the other room. 

Michelle in front of him. 

As Tony lets his own tears fall, a piercing agony breaks through him. 

Tony had held Peter on that balcony. 

But Peter’s last thoughts before he slipped off into oblivion had been on Michelle. 

Tony couldn’t lose Peter.

But he knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he allowed Peter to slip away from Michelle. 

He doesn’t tell her this, doesn’t try to offer a platitude. Tony doesn’t try to comfort her when he knows that the only one she would want to hear from is Peter. 

He just holds her.

And as the sobs still shake her, Tony’s heart aching at the sound, he makes a silent promise that neither he nor Michelle would have to lose him once more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comfort is coming soon. Remember the tags kid, Peter does not die in this one I promise <3
> 
> I love it when people yell at me in the comments!!


	6. Six.

Tony wordlessly leads Michelle into the room, Cho long having given the go ahead for them to enter.  

At first, no one was allowed in since they hadn’t known if the toxin -  the disease, whatever was left behind when Venom left - was contagious. 

After a few hours, Cho and her team had managed to indicate that it wasn’t. Whatever had destroyed Venom was relatively contained in Peter’s tired and struggling body. 

The minute they were allowed in, May had been permanently attached to his side. 

Tony would have been right there with her, but the image of Peter on the balcony haunted him. It was an unfortunate side effect, of Peter being Spider-Man - an Avenger all but in name. 

Peter had been in more scrapes, had seen the inside of the med bay more times than Tony could count. 

But this - the vision of Peter falling off the balcony’s edge, of him convulsing, bleeding out in his hands - had all been a little too much for Tony to handle. 

In this moment, he’s glad that he’d stepped out, had paced the hallways - if only for the chance to be able to bring Michelle to Peter. 

May turns her head, a soft smile on her lips. 

“Hi sweetheart.”

Michelle doesn’t speak, Tony turning and moving out of the way. Michelle has a neutral expression on her face, eyes still red and cheeks still puffy from the tears she shed. 

“Do you want to come and sit by him?” Michelle’s eyes glance to Tony then to May. Her voice soft, quieter than Tony had ever heard it.

“Can I?” 

May only smiles, her eyes tired as she moves away from her place by his beside. 

The ventilator’s soft whirring fills up the room, the consistent and steady beeping of Peter’s heart providing a steady rhythm. Tony takes this moment to really look at Peter. 

He’s still, almost unnaturally so. His chest is covered with a mountain of bandages, something Tony knows is likely unnecessary considering the kid’s super-healing. He has a tube down his throat, forcing him to breathe. Wires and lines delivering equal amounts of sedatives and pain relievers. 

From what Cho had expressed, Peter’s system was fighting the toxin itself. It didn’t make the picture of Peter on that hospital bed any less disturbing. 

Michelle - frozen in place - doesn’t object when May takes her hand, leads her to where she had previously been sitting and forces her to sit. 

The minute Michelle’s by his beside, it’s as if she comes alive. She leans in without question, one hand taking Peter’s, another up to his face.

“Hey dork. It’s me.” Michelle whispers. 

May takes a step back, giving a pointed look towards Tony as he follows her out of the room. The doors swish close, May turning back to watch through the glass window. 

Michelle is steadily talking to him, the hand up to her face pushing back some of Peter’s curls away. Tony can’t bear to watch it, turning away. 

“Tony…”

“I can’t watch this, May. I can’t, I--” He turns to May, refusing to meet her eyes. 

“I can’t watch her say goodbye to him.”

“She’s not saying goodbye, Tony. She’s not. You heard Cho and Bruce. Peter’s fighting this. He can do this. You know he can.” 

Tony sighs, a long and slow exhale. 

Peter was a fighter, always had been. Had fought off Venom even when it pained him on the damned balcony. 

The coma was a precaution, to ensure that Peter didn’t wake up before his body had the chance to fix whatever was needed. 

Tony wished there was something he could do, something he could fix. But he couldn’t - just had to sit here and wait. 

It strikes him that this must be what Pepper felt like, time and time again. 

Pepper was a few floors down now, putting Morgan to bed. Tony could only be grateful that she had the presence of mind to focus on their one child while Tony was preoccupied with his other. 

“I know, May. I know, I just…” Tony stops, eyes closing at the memory of Peter dying.

The first time. Crumbling away into dust. 

 _I’m sorry._  

Those two words haunted him for five long years. Even with the joy of marrying Pepper, the complete and undeserved bliss he had in holding Morgan after she was born - couldn’t help him escape the pain that those words had given him. 

He shakes himself out of the memory, finally meeting May’s eyes. 

“I feel useless here, May.” May gives him a sympathetic look, seemingly in tune with his thoughts just as Michelle had been. 

“Being here is enough.” May glances back to Michelle, Tony following. 

Michelle, standing now - seemed to be debating something. Tony wonders what it is a half-second before Michelle seems to decide, quickly moving Peter’s bed railing down. 

She gingerly slides next to Peter, seemingly being mindful of the wires and tubes that were keeping Peter stable. 

Tony can feel himself hold his breath, can hear May sigh as Michelle settles in. 

A beat. 

And then Michelle puts a hand across Peter’s chest, being careful not to disturb the gauze, the bandages, the tube that was put down Peter’s throat. 

They’re quiet for a moment, watching Michelle and the steady rise and fall of Peter’s chest. 

“They’re good together.” Tony offers, choking up for reasons he wasn’t comfortable admitting. 

May tilts her head, folding her arms. 

“You know he had a crush on her for ages.” 

Tony laughs. “Yeah. The kid never shut up about her until they started dating. Still doesn’t. She’s all he seems to focus on nowadays.” 

The memory of Peter’s last words to him on the balcony hit him again, but Tony dismisses it - focuses on the moment he’s in now - with May.

May smiles, nudging Tony with her elbow. 

“It’s part of the deal, Stark. We love them. They grow up. Find someone of their own to love.” 

May sighs, looking back towards Peter and Michelle. 

Tony doesn’t follow this time, taking the moment to consider what she’d said. 

He’d made no qualms about it. He loved Peter, just as much as Morgan. Tony loved Peter as if he was his son. 

The son that Tony had held as died. The son he had wreaked havoc across the universe for. 

He loved Peter. 

But he knew May was right. 

Peter had proved that to him already. 

* * *

 

“Mr. Stark, I think I’m in love.”

Tony whipped around, surprised by Peter’s presence. He wasn’t supposed to come in today, Peter already mentioning the mountain of homework he had to catch up. 

Tony doesn’t mind it though, turning to greet him. 

“You’re what?”

“In love, Mr. Stark.” Peter sighs dreamily, setting his backpack down on the lab bench.

“Don’t leave it—“

“MJ’s amazing, Mr. Stark. Did you know she memorized the Dewey Decimal System?”

“And you left it there.” Tony mutters, moving Peter’s backpack to the side as Peter just keeps walking past, going for a StarkPad across the room.

“Like I know I’m smart, Mr. Stark but memorizing that? Just for fun? That’s…” Tony watches in amusement as Peter just sighs, StarkPad in one hand and a hand outstretched in the other.

“Amazing?” Tony offers, grinning as Peter just nods - completely missing his sarcasm. 

“Yeah.” Peter sighs, Tony shaking his head.

“You got it bad, kid.” Peter smiles.

“She kissed me today.”

Tony stops, watching as Peter seems to remember - in real-time - who he was speaking to. His face turns from one of bliss to frozen horror.

“I mean, uh—“

“Kissed you, huh? What we talking? Peck on the lips? Swapping spit?”

“Oh my God.” Peter puts his hands over his face, mortified.

“You know, your aunt’s probably given you the talk—“

“Please, Mr. Stark don’t—“

“But there’s more to loving a woman than just knowing the basics.”

“I’m going to vomit. Or die. Maybe vomit then die.” Peter says through his fingers, looking utterly mortified. 

Tony just laughs, waving his hand in the air.

“I’m just messing with ya, kid.” Peter turns beet red, pausing as if to see if Tony is going to push it further. When he doesn’t, Peter just sighs again, plopping down on the lab chair closest to him. 

“So you like this girl?”

Peter gives him a look. “Keep up, Mr. Stark. I said I think I _love_ her.” 

“What are you, twelve? What do you know of love?”

Peter rolls his eyes. “I’m seventeen, Mr. Stark.” 

Tony puts out his hand mockingly. “Oh wait, excuse me Mr. Big and Bad. I forgot you’re a grown-ass adult now.” 

Peter smirks, putting his hand in his pockets. 

“You know I’ll be eighteen soon enough. Going off to college.” Tony shakes his head, waving his hand out.

“Uh. Uh. Uh. Don’t want to hear it.”

“Soon enough,” Peter continues, the smirk turning into a full-fledged smile, “It’ll be Morgan in here, chatting about someone she met in school and--”

“Stop right there, kid or I’m kicking you out of my lab. Morgan’s not allowed to date until she’s married.” 

Peter makes a face, confused. 

“That doesn’t even make sense, Mr. Stark.”

Tony just shrugs, turning his attention the gadget he was working on. “It’ll make sense to you when you have your own kids, Pete.” 

Tony pauses, turning to Peter - seemingly knowing what Mr. Stark is about to say before he says it.

“Mr. Stark---”

“Speaking of kids---”

“Please don’t--”

“Remember Pete, there are more ways than one that Spider-Man needs to suit up.”

The joke takes all of a second to land on Peter before he sighs, putting a hand to his face. 

“You’re the worst you know that?” 

“You know you love me, kid.” Tony smirks. “Maybe not as much as _MJ_ …” 

Peter laughed, shaking his head. 

“I think you’d like her. She’s smart. Funny.” 

Tony considers the offer all of two seconds before he gives it. 

“Well, if you like the girl so much - bring her around sometime. Sunday dinners?” 

Peter’s eyes light up. 

“You mean it? You don’t, you don’t mind? Tony shakes his head. 

“Not at all, kid. It’d be nice to finally meet the famous MJ, the girl you _love_.” Peter blanches. 

“You’re not going to tell her---”

Tony grins, pointing a tool in Peter’s direction.

“Oh kid, I’m gonna tell her _everything_.” 

* * *

 

Tony hadn’t, had only been teasing Peter to get a rise out of him. 

It hadn’t helped that once he met Michelle, Tony had been taken aback at how forceful of a presence she was. 

He could see why the kid had liked her. 

 _Loved_ her even. 

Tony softly smiles, turning his attention back to Peter and Michelle. 

It was silly, he knew - to put too much stock in the wild proclamations of love that any teenager gave. Young love - first love - hardly ever lasted. 

But Tony figured that Peter - the boy who was becoming more and more of a man every time Tony blinked - had been through enough hell in his life to know the real thing when he found it. 

From his own vantage point, it seemed to Tony as if Michelle felt the same way. 

Even now - fighting off some sickness that Peter never should’ve been burdened with, should never have encountered had it not been for Tony himself - Tony can’t help but think that Peter had to make it out okay. 

That he would. If not just for May or himself… but for Michelle. 

As he stood by May, watching Michelle as she lightly threaded her fingers through Peter’s hair, a pang of bittersweet remorse cut through him. 

Peter would get through this - whatever the hell had been done to him, he’d fought it as hard as he could.

Peter had been and always would be a fighter. 

He was growing up. Going to college in a few months’ time. It didn’t matter that Peter had settled on Columbia, that he’d sticking close to the city - and the people - that he loved. 

A part of Tony recognized that Peter - for all his fight, his earnestness and bravery - had already been started slipping out of his grasp. 

Peter didn’t die on that balcony, the ache of it still gutting Tony. 

But he was leaving. Growing. 

There would be a day when Tony wouldn’t be there to save him, wouldn’t be there to hold him, to plead with him to stay. 

There were monsters, terrors - threats in the cosmos and the galaxy that Tony still wrestled with in his dreams. 

Yet his only nightmares now revolved on losing the people he loved. 

Standing there, watching Peter - the ventilator steadily making his chest rise and fall, the tenderness of Michelle’s attention to him - Tony realizes with stunning clarity that in some way, he had already lost him. 

 _Not lost._  

Peter would make it through this - just as he had before. Just as he always would. 

Peter was already the best of them. The best of all of them. 

And Michelle - with all her fire, grit, and a determination that rivaled Pepper’s - was the one Peter had fallen in love with. Who seemed to love him just as fiercely back. 

Tony brings a hand out, May meeting his grasp halfway. 

They sit in silence for a moment, two parents - comforted with the knowledge that they weren’t alone. 

They’d lost Peter, in a way. 

But Tony was sure that Peter wouldn’t leave them today. 

* * *

 

_SIX MONTHS LATER_

 

 

“You sure you’re alright in this place, kid? You know I own about thirty buildings in this borough alone?” 

Peter sighs, rolling his eyes as he deftly places three boxes of what Tony could only guess is inside of them on the floor. 

“This place is fine, Mr. Stark. It’s close to campus and it still gives me the freedom to leave when I need to, you know, for--” Peter mimics his web-slinging motion, Tony laughing. 

“Yeah, underoos I know what you do. I’m just saying,” Tony glances around the apartment, mouth turning up in disgust. “You think you really need to slum it up? You fight crime, you don’t need to _live_ in it.”

Peter just laughs, rolling his eyes again as he turns toward the door. 

“Come on, Mr. Stark. This is part of the college experience. Cheap apartments. Bad ramen. Loud neighbors. You know,” Peter shrugged, “College.” 

Tony taps his fingers at his side before waving a hand around. 

“I wouldn’t know, kid. Sped through that faster than a bachelorette party does Vegas.” 

Peter scrunches up his nose. “Ew, Mr. Stark. Can you not--”

“Not what? I was talking about gambling, young buck.” 

Tony laughs as Peter’s face turns beet red. “What exactly were _you_ implying, Pete?” 

“Uh, nothing. I think I still have some boxes downstairs, I’ll go get them.” Tony smirks.

“Yeah, you do that casanova. Tell May I’ll be down in a second.” Peter grins, flying out of the apartment before Tony can embarrass him further. 

Tony’s alone only for a minute before he hears footsteps behind him. 

“Kid, I thought I said--”

“It’s me.” 

Tony turns, pleasantly surprised. 

“Michelle.” 

She nods, arms folded. 

“You talk him out of this hell hole yet?” 

Tony runs a hand through his hair, sighing. 

“I tried, Jones. You know as well as I do how stubborn he is.” 

Michelle’s lips twist, forming a rare smile. 

“Yeah. He’s a dumbass.” 

Tony shrugs. 

“And yet…” 

They’re silent for a moment. Then Michelle speaks up. 

“Thank you.” 

Tony raises an eyebrow. “For?” 

Michelle shrugs, the bravado she hid behind slightly slipping. Tony hadn’t seen Michelle’s vulnerable side since that night in the med bay room, when all has seemed lost. 

“You know, checking up on him. Watching out for him, all those years.” 

It’s only a few words, a simple phrase that in any other context - would be dismissed by Tony.

But he knows Michelle well enough now - can understand the undercurrent of what she’s saying, the meaning behind them. 

_Thank you for keeping him safe all those years._

_Thank you for bringing him back._

There’s a moment between them, Tony meeting Michelle’s steady gaze on him. 

A beat. 

And then an understanding that goes even further, recognizing the words she didn’t say. 

_I can take it from here._

_I’ll keep him safe now._  

Tony just smiles, a small nod. 

“Anytime, Jones.” 

She gives him a small smile, then it disappears, the neutral expression she so often carried back on her face. 

“I better help him. When we met on the stairs, he said he was going to try and see how many boxes he could carry in one go.” She rolls her eyes. 

“Dumbass.” 

Michelle turns back out the door, leaving Tony in silence once again. 

As he glances around the apartment, taking in the clutter and overflowing packed boxes that Peter had inevitably done the night before, his phone buzzes.

Tony takes it out of his pocket before smiling at the notification. 

 **Pep** **_:_ **How’s moving going? 

Tony smiles, tapping out a reply. 

 **Tony** : Fine. Haven’t convinced the kid to move yet, but we’ll see. You bought the building yet?  
**Pep** : Ha ha, Tony. Leave him alone. It’s part of the college experience.  
**Tony** : Both you and the kid, ganging up on me. Michelle’s on my side at least. 

He waits for her reply, Pepper seemingly taking her time with it until she settles on something that makes Tony grin. 

 **Pep** : Best side to be on. 

Tony’s smile deepended. 

He liked Michelle. Thought she was good for Peter. 

And in some ways, Tony thought - maybe Peter was good for Michelle. 

Tony goes to reply, then pauses - seeing a picture in a box that had barely closed. He doesn’t even consider the invasion of the kid’s privacy, reaching in as his heart constricts at the memory. 

It’s Peter, goofily grinning into the camera with Michelle by his side. Only a few days after he’d woken up from whatever Venom had done. 

Tony had thought it was morbid, taking a picture in a hospital bed after he had nearly died. but Peter had been insistent. Arguing that if he didn’t keep a record of his hospital visits, he would be failing his generation or some other kind of nonsensical shit. 

Tony sets the picture down, fingers only slightly trembling at the memory.

Peter was okay. Peter had lived through it. 

But the idea of losing Peter - _really_ losing him - still cut him to his core. 

He hears Peter’s laughter, the sound of it bouncing off the stairway and enveloping Tony’s entire being.  

As Peter walked through the door, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, eyes laughing as Michelle trailed behind him, all Tony could bring himself to really remember was the joy of the day when Peter had finally woken up. 

* * *

 

“May? Tony, get in here.” 

Their heads snapped up, conversing in the hallway. Michelle was in the other room, had only just arrived back after being forced to go home. 

Cho was insistent, Tony’s heartbeat quickening.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay? Is he stable? What’s going---”

“He’s awake.” 

It hits at Tony in his chest - the panic, the relief, the overwhelming need to see him with his own eyes. 

He follows after Cho, a step just behind May as the doors whoosh open.

And there he was, eyes tired but open. 

“Hey guys.”

_Peter._

May rushes to one side, Tony to another. 

“Hey baby, you doing alright?” Peter smiles slightly, his head rolling over to look at May. 

“Feeling… good.” May lets out a sharp laugh, Tony turning to Cho.

“Cho?”

“He burned through the sedative, but apparently not the painkillers. All his vitals seem to be steady and his response time - all things considered - seem to be in line with what they usually are.” 

Peter grins, turning to Tony. 

“You hear that, Mr. Stark. I’m… steady.” 

Tony just laughs, placing a hand on Peter’s forehead. 

“That you are kid. Scared the hell out of me, you know that?” 

Peter frowns, pursing his lips. 

“Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s… not your fault kid.” Tony softly whispers, Peter already dismissing - or forgetting - what’s being said. He turns back to May. 

“Why are you crying? Did Happy do something?” 

May quickly wipes away her tears, shaking her head as she laughs.

“No baby, just glad you’re awake.” Peter’s mouth twists. 

“You’d tell me right? I’d kick his ass.” Tony joins in the laugher, Peter’s face turning into one of confusion. 

“What? I could take him.” 

“No doubt you could, kid. But I think we’ll save the ass kicking for another day alright?” 

Peter seems to consider this for a beat too long before stopping, eyes widening.

“MJ?” 

May and Tony turn, both instantly remembering they had forgotten to include another to their happy reunion. 

Michelle walks silently toward him, an expression on her face that reminds Tony - yet again - of Pepper. 

“Peter?”

“Why don’t we give you two a moment?” May kisses Peter on his forehead as Tony pats him on the shoulder.

“We’ll be right outside, okay kid?” 

Peter lazily nods, attention focusing back on Michelle. 

May and Tony leave, Tony glancing towards May. 

“Wouldn’t have figured you’d be ready to let the kid go so soon.”

May smiles. “We’ll have our moment.” Tony nods, an understanding. 

He hears her footsteps before she arrives, Pepper’s eyes catching his as she rushes in. 

She rushes up to him, glancing towards Peter. 

“Is he okay? I just got the call.” 

Tony puts an arm around her, leaning into her embrace. 

“Yeah. He will be.” 

Tony looks back to Michelle, watching with a smile on his face as Peter babbles on, Michelle just listening - hands intertwined with his. 

Tony smiles at May, turns back to Pepper. 

“He has everyone he needs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, this wild and weird story is over!
> 
> I am one of the 0.00001% who actually liked Endgame apparently and as such, have tended to focus on stories that deal with Peter not just moving on - but dealing with the consequences of canon. (As shown in my current WIPS - [The Road Not Taken ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18971959/chapters/45046546) and [Out of Darkness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19700284/chapters/46621108), which are post-Endgame and post-FFH, respectively.)
> 
> However, writing this story made me realize how much we were robbed - particularly of the absolutely incredible and wonderfully odd friendship that Michelle and Tony would’ve had. Two people are so unlike each other but absolutely united in their love for (1) incredible and chaotic dumbass. 
> 
> This isn't the end of [my writing about the three of them](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19884652/chapters/47095393) \- and certainly not the last of my take on Peter and MJ.
> 
> Marvel said PeterMJ rights… [and so do I](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896770/chapters/44855035).
> 
> Special shoutout to [blondsak ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blondsak) who listened to me rant about “wanting to write something!!” and gave me the much needed push to just… do the thing. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who followed along this story! Comments literally make an author’s day (It me. I’m the author) so if you haven’t already, please leave a comment and let me know what you think! 
> 
> Until next time my dudes! Come hang out with me on [tumblr](http://seek-rest.tumblr.com).


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